joint. Nothing will or can restore order till our hearts
make the great decision: God shall be exalted above.

"Them that honour me I will honour," said God once to a priest of
Israel, and that ancient law of the Kingdom stands today unchanged by
the passing of time or the changes of dispensation. The whole Bible and
every page of history proclaim the perpetuation of that law. "If any man
serve me, him will my Father honour," said our Lord Jesus, tying in the
old with the new and revealing the essential unity of His ways with men.

Sometimes the best way to see a thing is to look at its opposite. Eli
and his sons are placed in the priesthood with the stipulation that they
honor God in their lives and ministrations. This they fail to do, and
God sends Samuel to announce the consequences. Unknown to Eli this law
of reciprocal honor has been all the while secretly working, and now the
time has come for judgment to fall. Hophni and Phineas, the degenerate
priests, fall in battle, the wife of Hophni dies in childbirth, Israel
flees before her enemies, the ark of God is captured by the Philistines
and the old man Eli falls backward and dies of a broken neck. Thus stark
utter tragedy followed upon Eli's failure to honor God.

Now set over against this almost any Bible character who honestly tried
to glorify God in his earthly walk. See how God winked at weaknesses
and overlooked failures as He poured upon His servants grace and
blessing untold. Let it be Abraham, Jacob, David, Daniel, Elijah or whom
you will; honor followed honor as harvest the seed. The man of God set
his heart to exalt God above all; God accepted his intention as fact and
acted accordingly. Not perfection, but holy intention made the
difference.

In our Lord Jesus Christ this law was seen in simple perfection. In His
lowly manhood He humbled Himself and gladly gave all glory to His Father
in heaven. He sought not His own honor, but the honor of God who sent
Him. "If I honour myself," He said on one occasion, "my honour is
nothing; it is my Father that honoureth me." So far had the proud
Pharisees departed from this law that they could not understand one who
honored God at his own expense. "I honour my Father," said Jesus to
them, "and ye do dishonour me."

Another saying of Jesus, and a most disturbing one, was put in the form
of a question, "How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another,
and seek not the honour that cometh from God alone?" If